Reading Notes W 7: OLAUDAH EQUIANO , Part A

In "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano" is a biography of Olaudah Equiano life. Equiano was born in about 1745 in the Niger River Delta area of present-day Nigeria. Kidnapped by local raiders around the age of eleven, he was carried to the coast and sold into slavery. After a harrowing journey across the Atlantic, Equiano was purchased by a Virginia slaveholder. later a British naval officer, Michael Henry Pascal, bought him as a present for friends in England. To be funny Pascal renamed Equiano his new slave Gustavus Vassa. Equiano was treated very well that he was given the opportunity to learn to read and write. Later on, he eventually earned enough money to buy his freedom and chose to live in London where he worked as a hairdresser, valet, and a doctors assistant. He talks about his life before he was taken and sold into slavery. He talks about the marriage structure of his society and the roles that men and women play in this. He kind of gives a reason kind of why many of his people were enslaved since they were an agriculture-based culture. Equiano also states that the white West Indies planters favored slaves taken from this country because of their "hardiness, intelligence, integrity, and zeal". Their religion the people believed in one Creator who lived in the sun and governed major events such as life, death, and war. Equiano also explains how his memories are bittersweet, especially given the events of his early years with his siblings which he had seven brothers and sisters. He then goes on to talk about his experiences as a slave like the conditions he lived in, how strange their culture was to him, and how he felt and acted during this period of his young life. (p.77 -98)